New Mexico wants to ban alcohol sales to DWI convicts

For years, New Mexico has had one of the highest rates of alcohol-related traffic deaths in the nation. And in each legislative session, lawmakers wrestle with how to make the state's highways and rural roads safer, usually spurred by the latest horrific accident.

This week, an aggressive new bill is being considered that would forbid many people convicted of drunken driving from buying alcohol anywhere - whether stores, restaurants or bars. If it passes, it would be among the most restrictive drunken-driving laws in the nation.

Under a 2005 New Mexico law, people convicted of drunken driving are required to install ignition interlock devices in their vehicles, typically for one year for a first offense. Drivers have to breathe into the device to start the ignition, and it does not allow the car to start if it detects a threshold level of alcohol on the driver's breath.

Marked on license

The current proposal would expand that measure, barring thousands of New Mexicans who are required to have the devices from purchasing alcohol at all. Under the measure, drivers who are now mandated to have interlock devices would be issued a specially marked license indicating that they are prohibited from buying alcohol.

The idea has gained popularity. This week, the measure sailed through the state House of Representatives in a 59-5 vote, and it was scheduled to be taken up by a Senate committee Friday.

State Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, said he was motivated to write the bill after seeing a man with an interlock device in his car buy miniature bottles of whiskey and a soda at a store. The man poured the whiskey into the soda, blew into the interlock device and started his car. He then placed the drink in the car's cup holder and drove off.

"We have a terrible problem in New Mexico," Egolf said, "and what we are trying to do is come at it from the other side, not just the incarceration and interlock side."

Critics sound off

Not everyone thinks Egolf's proposal is feasible, however.

"I don't see this affecting the reduction of death and injury," said Linda Atkinson, executive director of the DWI Resource Center in Albuquerque, which has pushed for tougher drunken driving laws. "A lot of times, you see bills that make logical sense, but can you really prohibit someone from purchasing alcohol?"

New Mexico had the eighth-highest death rate in the nation from alcohol-related crashes. That was an improvement from 2001, when the state was ranked fourth, according to the group.

Atkinson said she would rather see current laws enforced to ensure that those who are ordered to use an ignition lock actually install them.

Egolf acknowledged that his proposal was imperfect, but he maintained that it would make it more difficult for offenders to flout the law. And he pointed to an accident near Santa Fe on Monday, in which a driver suspected of being drunk collided with two cars, injuring a pregnant woman.